


Not A Paragon

by Mushroom_Writes



Category: Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cass is in over her head, Rapunzel has PTSD, Slightly ooc? Idk I’m new to writing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-08
Updated: 2020-04-08
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:21:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,184
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23549083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mushroom_Writes/pseuds/Mushroom_Writes
Summary: Set during Cassandra’s Revenge.Rapunzel had always harboured some... unsavoury thoughts. Cruel feelings that she locked away and pretended didn’t exist, hidden to everyone but the psychiatrists that poked and prodded her when she first returned to her family those few years ago.Consequences from being locked in a tower her entire life, they said. She knew these feelings didn’t define her, and she never wanted to act on them. But with Cass mad with power and Varian taken hostage, these urges were becoming harder and harder to ignore.
Relationships: Rapunzel & Varian (Disney), rapunzel & cassandra
Comments: 10
Kudos: 59





	Not A Paragon

Alone, Rapunzel stood. Alone at the base of this new colossal obsidian castle, ready to confront her best friend. Everyone else was back at the kingdom, it took a lot of convincing but Rapunzel knew she had to do this without anyone else by her side. Eugene, Lance, the orphans, they all begged and pleaded for Rapunzel to take them with her but she shot them down every instance they tried.

It wasn’t just for their safety that Rapunzel refused to bring them along. Today was still Eugene’s first legitimate birthday party and she would be damned if he didn’t get to celebrate it as such, she just wished she could be there with him. 

‘Ah well, maybe if this gets wrapped up quickly I could still join at the last moment.’ She told herself. It was a bold-faced lie and she knew it. There was no way things would be wrapped up between her and Cass quick enough for her to get back to Eugene’s party in time, but she still humoured the thought.

Rapunzel stepped closer to the black tower, her breath shaky and her footing uneasy. Rapunzel took another step. She grounded her heels into the mud and sucked in a long, steadying stream of air to slow her racing heart and placed a hand on the fortress in front of her.

“Cassandra!” She bellowed, as loud as her diaphragm could muster. “I know you can hear me!” She continued. “Please, please let me in. I just want to talk...” Her voice betrayed her as it cracked and trailed off, signalling just how close to tears she was. These past few weeks had been... taxing to say the least. Her mind didn’t want to go into detail about all the events that had transpired in recent history but they still weighed on her like dumbbells on her shoulders. 

Rapunzel stood there for a moment, leaning on the black rock wall and stifling tears before it began to glow a bright azure blue. The blonde backed up as the base of the tower cracked open like an egg, revealing a dark yet beautiful interior decorated with asymmetric shards and winding onyx staircases which led to who knows where. 

Cass was letting her in.

Rapunzel couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief as she wiped away the damp collecting around the corner of her eyes, and stepped forwards into the abyssal palace.

The floor was cold and smooth beneath her feet, like walking on ceramic. She looked around, getting a sense for this new and alien environment, then jumped as she heard the opening seal shut behind her. 

Right, no time to dawdle.

Rapunzel has no idea which of the imposing staircases before her would lead to wherever Cassandra hid, but knew she didn’t have time to waste, and so she just began walking. 

It was safe to say Rapunzel was scared, for many different reasons. Her home was being threatened by someone she used to consider her closest friend. Varian, a sweet little kid had been stolen and held captive against his will by said friend, and the Princess had no idea what she had in store for her. But the thing is, none of these things were what scared Rapunzel the most. Rapunzel was scared because she wanted to hurt Cassandra.

Now, these feelings were nothing new. The free spirited flower child had been dealing with random and intense desires to inflict pain for as long as she could remember, and it’s not like she didn’t have any clue why they existed.

‘Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder’ the palace doctors had told her. Something to do with her being locked away by an abusive parent for her entire childhood. It manifested itself in different ways with different people and with her it just so happen to be wanting to hurt others, maybe because she wanted people to feel the pain she felt? She didn’t know, she wasn’t an expert. She did know however that these feelings didn’t define her, and as such she’d never once acted upon them. 

To be truthful, those feelings horrified her. They shook her to her core and as such she kept them locked up and hidden from everyone else in her life. Not Eugene, not her Parents, not even Pascal knew about this secret she kept. The only people who did know were the very doctors who’d diagnosed her, and she wanted to keep it that way.

But... would she be able to?

As the Princess continued to climb these seemingly endless stairs she thought about how much Cassandra had hurt her, had hurt everyone in Corona, how Cassandra seemed intent on ‘breaking’ Rapunzel and forcing her to fight her best friend, and that was what terrified Rapunzel more than anything else.

What if she ended up acting on those urges?

As quickly as the idea came to mind Rapunzel shook it out. No. They did not reflect who she was, and she was going to get through to Cassandra, no matter what. She would save her best friend.

After what felt like an eternity, Rapunzel finally reached the top of the stairs and into the castle’s bleak main chamber. She looked around, soaking in the macabre surroundings before finally settling her gaze upon the centrepiece of the room. A large, jagged throne illuminated by blue flames, and resting upon it was Cassandra, legs crossed and arms resting. The moonstone’s shine casting an eerie shadow across her face and giving her already pale skin an almost corpse-like appearance. 

“Hey Raps,” Cassandra said, coldly. Her usual fond nickname for Rapunzel spat out as if it were a slur.

“Hey, Cass...” Rapunzel responded, timidly. “I uh, I love what you’ve done with the place.” She tried to joke, but her quiet voice and reserved tone ruined any chance of a laugh.

“You know what I want Rapunzel.” Cassandra said, cutting straight to the point. 

“Look, Cass, I’m not going to fight you.” Rapunzel said, desperate to get through to her best friend.

“Then this will be very easy.” Cassandra responded, smirking.

And with that, the two friends clashed. 

Cassandra on the offensive, using her newfound mastery of the black rocks to punt, launch and crush the blonde Princess. While Rapunzel was on the defensive, refusing to strike a single blow against her attacker she used her hair to parry and block and evade all of Cassandra’s attempts to harm her, but Rapunzel knew she couldn’t keep this up forever, and just on cue Cassandra managed to pin her to a wall, nearly impaling the Princess upon the black rocks as she did so.

But Rapunzel’s resolve did not waver.

“I will never stop trying to get through to you!” She said, her determination to bring back her friend overriding any sense of peril she should be feeling. “I won’t fight you, I will justify your anger, and there is nothing you can do to change that! Nothing!” She yelled out to Cassandra, hoping beyond hope that this could finally be over.

For a moment, just a sliver of a moment, Cassandra hesitated. Then she laughed.

“Oh ho ho ho! There isn’t? ‘Cause I kinda think there is.” She responded, her lips twisted into a snarl as she looked towards a cage suspended outside the tower’s walls.

Varian.

The boy, who up until this point had been reading and re-reading the scroll like he were missing something, was lurched in place as his cell was dragged back into the castle. The bars collapsed and he was sprawled out on the floor, then he was back up again, being hoisted up into a headlock by Cassandra. She unsheathed her stolen blade and placed it against his throat, a grim look of finality in her face.

“Cass, leave him alone!” Rapunzel begged, fear beginning to overcome her. And then she felt it, that desire to inflict pain, that want to see Cassandra suffer. She stifled it down as she slowly writhed free of the entrapment Cassandra had caught her in.

“It’s about time I finished this.” She said, looking into Varian’s eyes. He was terrified, it was as if he was looking at a demon.

“Don’t do anything she says, Princess!” Varian called out, ripping his gaze away from the woman he once admired and back towards Rapunzel. She was almost free.

“Aww, I don’t think she has much of a choice in the matter.” Cassandra spoke mockingly, pinching Varian’s cheek as she did so.

The princess had dislodged herself, and she hit the ground hard. All Rapunzel could think about was how much she hated Cassandra at this moment, how much she wanted to see the betrayer cry and beg and plead for Rapunzel to stop, but she had to keep reaching out to her best friend. 

“Cassandra please!” Rapunzel begged, she didn’t have much left in her. 

In defiance Cassandra pressed the tip of her blade further into Varian’s neck, causing a red trickle to start leaking out of where the point met his throat. Varian was desperately trying to escape, wriggling and kicking against his captor no matter how useless it proved to be. “Awww, it sure does hurt, doesn’t it, Princess? Being the helpless one for once?” Cassandra spoke condescendingly, treating Rapunzel like a crying infant.

The Princess had almost nothing left in her, she couldn’t go on like this. Her own fatigue coupled with her ever increasing desire to hurt meant she wasn’t just afraid for Varian, but Cassandra too.

“Cassandra you’ll kill him!” She cried out, hoping that there was still some inkling of a shred that the knight would listen to her before she gave in.

Cassandra gave Rapunzel a hateful grin. “That’s kinda the point, Raps.” She drew the blade ever so slightly across Varian’s throat, causing the smallest of incision.

And that was it. The straw that broke the camels back. Rapunzel’s desire to see her best friend return was quickly washed away with a desire to see her in white hot agony instead. Rapunzel stood up, her face lifeless and stoic. She didn’t care anymore. 

With one quick movement Rapunzel grabbed and launched a line of hair at Cassandra, wrapping itself tightly across her sword arm.

“Finally, and here I thought you’d just let hi-“ Cassandra’s gloating was cut short by Rapunzel spinning on her axis and sending Cass crashing into a castle wall. Her armor shielded her from any outside wounds, but her insides weren’t exactly as reinforced. 

Cassandra felt something drip from her mouth, and she instinctively wiped it away. 

Blood.

“Fine, that’s the way you wanna pla-“

Rapunzel interrupted Cass again by latching several other ropes of hair around Cassandra.

“I told you to leave him the fuck alone.” She hissed. Cass was taken aback, hearing the sweet and innocent Rapunzel swear felt... wrong. Like it went against nature.

“Raps I-“

“YOU DON’T GET TO CALL ME THAT!” Rapunzel roared. Step by step she began approaching the downed Cassandra, a new determination in her eyes. A much, much more malicious one.

“I gave you every chance to stop and you spat it in my fucking face! This is your fault Cassandra!” She spoke again, the desire to hurt Cass in any way possible overcoming all her senses. Rapunzel stopped moving.

“Wither and Decay...”

“Wait, Raps, no!” Cassandra’s once smug face contorted in fear as she heard those words and realised just what was about to happen.

“WITHER. AND. DECAY.” The Princess repeated, there was no compassion in her eyes. No love, no desire to see the right thing done. Just the will to hurt.

Her hair was sapped of colour.

“End this Destiny.” Rapunzel spoke with certainty. Cass’s armor began to melt as the surrounding fortress lost its blue hints, and was left a lifeless grey.

“Break these earthly chains.” Cassandra’s armor was broken. She started screaming, a piercing agonised cry as Rapunzel’s hair mutilated her body.

“And set the spirit free.” Cassandra’s exposed body was blackened and smouldering, charred and grotesque, and the pain oh dear god the pain. She felt like she was being burned alive. Her arms gave out and she slumped to the ground, breathing shallow and raspy breaths, clinging onto dear life with what strength she still had.

Rapunzel returned to the kingdom, dragging Cassandra’s mutilated body with her. Everyone was horrified of what’d become of Cassandra, though the Princess was able to put them at ease, promising that Cassandra was still alive, and that there was no other way they could have resolved this. Varian was delivered back to Old Corona after his injuries had been seen to, though all claims that Rapunzel went too far were quickly dismissed as Stockholm Syndrome taking effect. The moonstone was taken from Cassandra and locked in the castle’s most secure vault, where the flower had once been held.

Cassandra lay sleeping in the intensive care ward, her charred body rendered her immobile. Rapunzel sat next to her. She looked down at her broken friend and couldn’t help feel a smile crawl across her face. 

That felt good.

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so, first fic! I really enjoyed writing it, and I hope you can all give some feedback on what to improve upon next time.


End file.
